First and foremost: Firefox and Thunderbird are currently both at version is 1.0.6. Hooray for synched version numbers! If you need to, please update your Firefox and/or update your Thunderbird. Remember, you can always force-check for upgrades in either software by going to Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Software Update and pressing the little "Check Now" button, if waiting for the little update notification icon doesn't do it for you.

On to the extensions... Since some people were so stoked when I posted an image of the ForecastFox extension in action, I figured it was time to do another "Firefox extensions I love" roundup. Almost a year ago, I posted "firefox extensions that make my life easier," and in February I noted "PC Week's Top Firefox Extensions." I still use some of the extensions I mentioned in those two posts, but I uninstalled others because they just didn't fit into The Way I Do Things. When you have ten years of experience in using graphical web browsers a certain way, it's difficult to change the way your hands move even if the extensions are time-savers. Here's my current Firefox setup as of Right Now:

BlogThis: Adds a context menu option to blog a link to the current page and any selected text through Blogger's BlogThis form. If no text is selected when you click to BlogThis, then the title of the page becomes the text of the link.

BugMeNot: If you right-click in the username text field of a registration-required site, you'll (possibly) get a valid username/password for use therein.

DictionarySearch: Adds a context menu option to search for a selected word at the dictionary site of your choice (I use dictionary.com). Very useful for me, as some of you people use really big words in your blog posts.

ForecastFox: Displays weather information for a location of your choice; many customizable options. I love it.

Gmail Notifier: An integrated GMail notifier; checks mail at customizable intervals or click to open GMail in new tab.

GooglePreview: Inserts a thumbnail preview within Google search results, which lets you know ahead of time if site is just going to be too heinous to visit...

Greasemonkey: Allows a developer to add custom user scripts in order to change the intended behavior of a site. Often used to fix usability issues of a site that has good content (which makes you want to visit it) but a shitty interface (makes you not want to visit it).

LinkChecker: allows you to check the links on a page, as it checks and then colorcodes all links: red is for broken links, yellow is for forwarded links, green is for good links, grey is for skipped links.

Sage: RSS/Atom feed aggregator; this is my primary feedreader. As its description indicates, "It's got a lot of what you need and not much of what you don't." Exactly. I'm a big fan.

Tab X: adds an "x"-closes-tab button in each browser tab. Easily my favorite extension of all, because it makes this user's experience significantly better. Seriously—if you have to click on a tab in order to right-click and select "close tab", doesn't it make more sense just to stick a freaking "x" in the corner so you can just click it and close it? Yes, yes it does.

TinyURL Creator: An interface for using tinyurl.com to convert long URLs into smaller ones (easier for pasting into email and IM).

Translate: Adds a context menu option that allows you to translate (via Babelfish) selected text from [language] to English.

posted by julie at 1:24 PM // permalink // COMMENTS DISABLED: BLOG IS DEFUNCT note: links within posts might be broken because this blog is not being updated and things on the internet tend to move/disappear
I now blog at battleoftheants.blogspot.com